The Cabinet's endorsement of the controversial Bill was led by Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who said that prisoners observing a hunger strike, namely Palestinians, pose a 'threat' to Israel.

"Alongside attempts to boycott and delegitimize Israel, hunger strikes of terrorists in prisons have become a means to threaten Israel," Erdan said on his Facebook page.

The same Bill was approved by the Israeli government last year and sent to Parliament for debate but the Knesset was dissolved before it could start deliberating.

The Bill was initially approved in June 2014 at the height of a mass hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners during which 80 were hospitalised. Chairman of the Israeli Medical Association, Leonid Eidelman, slammed the Bill, saying force feeding prisoners against their will is 'unethical'.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) stressed that force feeding was forbidden. "Any decision on medical procedure, including feeding or nourishing a person, should be made by an independent medical team and in according to the legal rights of the patient," which include the need for consent, ACRI said in a statement.